When the most powerful Indian-made rocket was lifting off on June 5, nearly a hundred scientists who were crowded into the control room at the space centre in Sriharikota were feeling the pressure. Maiden launches have not gone down well for the Indian Space Research Organisation or ISRO - the debuts of earlier home-made rockets had flopped. Now, here was this giant beast, as heavy as 200 adult elephants, on which rode the country's hopes of winning a bigger share of the more than $300 billion global space industry.
